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GEEK TRIVIA

What Was Google’s Original Name?

BackRub

GopherPile

DarkWeb

DeepThought

Answer: BackRub

In the 21st century, Google is a household name–even among the households that don’t use it. Back in the late 20th century, 1996 to be exact, Google was unheard of. The precursor to Google, the earliest collaboration between Google founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin, was nicknamed–rather oddly–BackRub.

The “BackRub” moniker hung on through 1996 and into late 1997 when they registered Google.com. In the fall of 1998 the ambitious pair incorporated Google, Inc. What started as a project between two friends on a college campus with a computer case cobbled together from plastic sheets and LEGO bricks grew into the world’s largest search provider over the next decade. How much of that growth can be attributed to ditching the awkward name BackRub, the world will never know.